that is probably a promise gov. romney things i kept. i promised i would fight every single day on behalf of the american people. i have kept that promise. if you vote for me, i promise i will fight just as hard in the second term. >> thank you. thank you, mr. president. thank you for tuning in. i am concerned about america. i am concerned about the direction america has been taking over the last four years. i know this is bigger than an election about the two of us as individuals.

is bigger than our respective parties. it is about what kind of america do you want to have for yourself and your children. there are two different paths we are speaking about this evening and over the course of the next month we will have two other debates. we will talk about the two paths. they lead in different directions. it is not just looking at our words, you can look at the record. there is no question if the president were to be reelected, he would continue to see a middle-class squeeze it. we have had 43 straight months with unemployment over 8%. i will help create 12 million new jobs in this country with rising incomes. if the president is reelected, obamacare will be fully installed. in my view that will make a whole different way of life for people who counted on the insurance plan the had in the past. he was the health premiums go up by $2,500 per family. -- you will see health premiums go up by $2,500 per family. we want each state to craft their own programs and we will focus on getting the cost of health care down. if the president is reelected, you will see a $716 billion cut to medicare.

you will have hospitals and providers no longer accepting medicare patience. i will restore the $716 billion to medicare. the president is reelected, you will see dramatic cuts to the military. i will not cut our commitment to our military. i will keep america strong, and did the middle class working again. thank you. >> thank you governor and mr. president. the next debate will be the vice-presidential even to in ky. for now from the university of denver, thank you and good night. [cheers and applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [applause]

>> and there you have the first rebroadcast of the first presidential debate. several questions, all dealing with the economy and issues relating to it. here is how you can give us a call. you can also reach out to us on social media tonight. you can post your reaction to

the debate. over 2000 people posting tonight on our facebook page. the whole conversation going on on that page. a few more seconds of finishing the first rebroadcast of the debate and then we will take your calls. [cheers and applause]

>> as we finish and you've finished looking at what happened at the university of denver tonight, the numbers will be on your screen. if you want to join the conversation on up -- on facebook, people have already commented. over 2000 reaction. s here are a couple of them. mr. romney was so rude and kept interrupting the president. here is one from twitter.

give us a call at one of the numbers on your screen. on the democrats' line, what did you think? >> i think that even as a democrat myself, mitt romney had some really good. . i think that obama could have been a lot more aggressive. don't spend the first 20 seconds of the first presidential debate wishing pure wife happy anniversary. >> did you learn anything from the exchanges from either man? >> i actually did not know mitt romney views on energy. i think independent energy is a great idea. >> this is weighing in alexandria virginia on the republican line. >> i listened to the debate and the president mentioned the number one job of the government is to protect the people. now he is the executive chief

commander. that is his no. 1 job in his branch of the government. he did talk about strengthening our military -- he did not mention anything about strengthening the military which mitt romney did mention that he was going to keep the government strong. my biggest issue is the economy right now, but also if you look at the middle east crisis, iran, libya, and some of these other countries, if war breaks out in the middle east, and with the oil problem and fuel shortages, if you think our grocery stores can get into when there is two or 3 inches of snow coming down, imagine getting our oil cut off, and this crisis with our american embassies being under attack.

>> so when it comes to the economy, which was the discussion tonight, it did get anything from either of the candidates about what they were talking about as far as policy or anything like that? >> i would have to just say what the president said four years ago, if he could not cut the deficit in half, he does not deserve to run again. i don't have anything against him, but a lot of people called up and said the narrator ann romney grandstanded. i don't think he has the passion he does because he is under a lot of pressure. he has painted himself into a corner. >> this is from joshua, texas, on the independent line. >> i was watching the debate tonight and just looking at the

body language on these guys. they keep avoiding the real issues. >> such as? >> they keep talking about the middle class, but their definition of the middle classes people that make over $40,000, for the most part. what about the people who make $20,000 or less? a lot of people don't make that much money. >> beat you learn anything tonight? >> no sir >> eric is saying she was not moved at all by this debate. this is steve joins us on our democrats line. >> i watched the debate for a

second time tonight, and the first time i thought romney had him back on his heels of a lot. the second time through, i really did not see much difference or hear anything new from either one of them. romney seems to have been able to sugarcoat his theory of cutting spending, getting rid of what he would call our entitlements. obama was able to put a little different face on things. the second time through, i really don't think there was much of a gain by either one. >> your thoughts on a republican president? >> the first time through, i thought president obama was a little back on his heels the

first time through. the second time through, i felt like he really stated his. and he was accurate. romney was able to turn around and kind of twist things, the way they have been doing. i thought rod did ok. i guess i was expecting him to be a little more aggressive -- i thought barack did ok. >> not only can you post your opinion on facebook, there was a poll we were taking of who won the first presidential debate. people weighing in st. mitt romney by an edge. the president getting 1600 plus boats and mitt romney getting 2200 plus boats.

-- the surrogate for each of the dimon campaign and what is known as the spin room. those forces route tonight and we will hear from a couple of them. this is senator mark o. rubio, republican from florida. >> i think we have a new race, ladies and gentlemen. i think it is pretty clear. i think what you saw was the margin for candidacy was a mile wide but an inch thick. there was a starting moment in this debate when the president turned to the monitor and said maybe it is time to change the subject. i think he had had enough talking about taxes and debt. how much of it is just not true? there was one moment when they

were talking about how only 3% of the business owners would be affected, but governor romney came back and pointed out that they are the ones who create most of the jobs. i think tonight was an important moment. i think for the first time, the american people saw these two men standing next to each other. they saw a dramatic difference between someone based on realistic ideas and a president who's in towercam pay is based on rhetoric and myth. >> the facts or on his side. the president could not justify his position. the first the minutes were painful to watch. the president kept going are around and around on the tax issue. the governor was ready. muncie realized he had run out of a tax and things to say that

were not true, he wants to change the subject. he turned to the moderator and said maybe we should move on to something else pyrrhic he was clearly uncomfortable discussing the debt and the economy. greg will we see a jump in the polls for mr. romney now? >> we will sit what happens. millionsf americans tonight are hurting, who don't have jobs, who are looking for jobs, who graduated from college and cannot find a job in the field a study for. millions of americans like that were watching the program. what they saw was a candidate with real ideas about how to get the economy growing and jobs being created, and a president who has absolutely no clue how to do that. i think we'll move on and continue to take our message to voters. there will be to more debate than there is a vice presidential debate. i think tonight was a dramatic moment in this campaign which is very clear that the president of

the united states, barack obama come did not want to discuss taxes or the economy or the budget because his record is very, very bad. >> center marco rubio. from pennsylvania on the republican line. >> it was pretty incredible tonight to see mitt romney, who has been sort of beat up and dehumanized, to not only become human for so many people, but you see a compassionate, extremely well composed, an absolute presidential timber. he really is not only well versed but he can hold his own anywhere. i don't think that has been seen in the last two or three months by most americans. >> what other things did you come away with about things you learn or had not known before? >> i was pretty amazed at

president obama -- maybe there are things going on behind the scenes that we don't know about on the international scale that are detracting from his ability to focus, but he was sort of frighteningly not with it. it seemed light he was not totally there tonight, for some reason. i don't know why that is, but mitt romney was on. come on center, and absolutely, again, and a presidential timber. look, this guy was the governor of massachusetts. he is a compassionate human being. >> here is john from west virginia on the independent line. what did you think about tonight? >> i will be honest with you. here is my thinking. i think that romney is going to

be able to do a whole lot with the country -- know. do think obama is going to? nope. but here is the thing. with romney, at least i know within four years we will still have a president. with obama, i am not so certain. i don't feel that we are united as we the people anymore. with romney, we have that option. that is all i have to say. >> had already made up your mind who you were going to vote for? >> no, i am completely open- minded still. just by looking and seeing how things are going, i am leaning a little bit more toward romney at the moment. >> this is sophia from twitter. -- so fantastic to see governor romney and president obama being so social and courteous.

all of our social media component and other components about the debates have been put together in our debate hub. first and foremost, you can see the responses to questions, the specific questions that were asked tonight by the moderator. you can click the question and see the video responses and you can also use the site to make clips of sections of the debate and send those clips be a social media or whatever to other people to share. that is all at our debate hub at c-span.org. let's go to nicole in richmond, virginia. she is calling on the democratic line. what did you think about tonight? >> i think that president barack obama did a wonderful job tonight. education was very important.

i would love to be evidence in my children to a better school but at the moment that are not accessible. things were not looking good for mitt romney. it was quite natural for him to come out there and be very defensive, as he was denied to the next few weeks will be very crucial with the election being rider on the corner. i totally support barack obama, and we will go through it to the finish line. >> i think president barack obama really held his composure. there may have been times that he wanted to get frustrated or upset that he really held himself. i commend him for not getting upset and showing his frustration. it is only the first debate and we still have the vice-

presidential debate. the republicans should not get so uppity with this whole thing because it was the first debate. governor mitt romney had to really come out there and show himself because it has not been looking at good for him the last few weeks. i don't think president barack obama did anything wrong. i just look forward to the upcoming debates. >> this is ruby on twitter saying that governor romney needs to elaborate on what his complete ideas are. this is aaron in utah on the republican line. >> mitt romney gave a lot of courses that he would take. from personal opinion, i have observed that a lot of these

budget cuts have decrease the amount of training that we have and mitt romney spoke about he was going to help with that kind of situation. >> what did you think about the format tonight? >> i was impressed with both speakers. they both were very courteous. the moderator was a little timid. he could have stepped in more and kept them in their time zones. >> we will continue on with your calls. this is david axelrod, obama for america's senior adviser. >> when people say what is it exactly that he just said? it thinks we can add $7 truman to our debt -- $7 trillion to our debt.

i think governor romney played the american people cheap. i think this problems were clear. >> [indiscernible] we will have a foreign-policy debate. >> i am going to advise the president to be forthright and honest with the american people. [indiscernible] >> folks are struggling to get a good education for their kids.

trying to create jobs. can you actually do that? governor romney spoke about all chapter titles and zero chapters. the president said in the debate if his ideas are so good, why will he not share them with the american people? >> it said it would not be surprised if romney came out with a bounce today. [indiscernible]

i don't think a whole lot. it certainly did not change the fundamentals of this race. $2 trillion pentagon build up. he has an implausible plan that will punish the middle class in this country and retard growth. >> some of the papers have already put out their editorials for tomorrow's paper based on tonight's debate. this is the tampa bay times from florida.

the star tribune out of minnesota, this is what the editors right. this is craig from illinois on the independent line. >> i would like to remind everybody who is undecided or disk that dig or dissatisfied that there are more choices. i would ask them to research some of the third-party candidate out there and compare strengths and weaknesses with

both obama and romney. >> are you following a third- party candidate? >> not right now, i am undecided. >> who are you leaning towards? >> i am familiar with the libertarians and the greens, but i really am not leaning towards anyone yet. >> tote critics of tonight's debate is not going to change your opinion, i gather? >> i was pretty dissatisfied with both romney and obama before tonight. >> after looking at the debate, i think the president was very presidential in his presentation and i thought he was a little more specific, although rummy seem to be very aggressive. i think he was allowed over

aggressive. he still ducked and ran away from at least two or three questions that were asked. he did not give a specific plan of where he wants to go. i think he was just over aggressive as far as criticizing the president over his record of the last 3.5 years. i think it is too early right now to start predicting who won the debate. i think romney was aggressive. eight british much tried to draw president obama into a dog fight and i think president obama did excellent by keeping his approach it -- keeping his composure. the voters will decide within the next two debates who they want to vote for. i think it is too early right now. >> do you think mr. romney gained some ground from this? >> i think a tree is known by

the fruit it bears. i think he has flip flop of a lot of the issues he has gone through this year as far as campaigning. this health care plan than he got in place in massachusetts is pretty much a very similar plan, the same layout as the obama health care plan, yet he wants to repeal its. he does not want to repeal -- reveal what he will place a plan with. just basically stating what he wants to do but he has not given us a specific plan. if you are going to take the american people somewhere, you have to let them know where you are going to take them. how he is going to create jobs, there are cuts that will have to be made and he is not informing the american people.

>> thank you very much. marcia in harrison, arkansas on the republican line. >> i was calling just to say that you all did a really good job tonight and i think both the republican and democrats looked good. the president and mr. romney did a good job. >> who did a better job? >> i don't know, i think it is a brawl. they both held their composure. they both made their points. mr. romney did look a little frustrated a few times. i kind of liken him to a pit bull on a leash trying to get loose. i agree with him on values, whereas the democratic party, i don't agree with their value system at all. >> did you go into tonight's debate already deciding who you were going to vote for?

>> i am decided as far as i am not going to vote democratic party, i know that. as far as an independent candidate or mitt romney, i am not sure yet. >> as far as tonight is concerned, watching mr. romney, did that change your opinion whatsoever? >> yes. i am not sure, there are things he is making points about it, i am not sure what he is actually saying. so i need to find out more about where hes headed before i can really make an informed decision. i do have a comment about the health care. this is for any party willing to listen, and that is, i believe that a good way to reduce the cost of health care in this country is fort somebody of government to regulate the billing practices of the health- care industry people. i think that's very unfair and

very ridiculous health care practices -- i mean billing practices. those need to be reviewed. >> i appreciate the comment. birmingham alabama, independent line. what did you think of tonight? >> i thought tonight that, everybody is talking about how well romney did. romney was programmed, so he is going to come out swinging and punching. if you look at it that way, he did ok, but president obama is not like that. romney is -- >> i seem to have lost the caller. i want to show you a little bit, back to the spin room. we are going to hear from reince priebus, chairman of the republican national committee. >> i just never seen an

incumbent president coming to a space looking so flat. he was meandering, he was bored, he had no vision, no passion. the president had no heart. it was an unbelievably bad performance by the president's an unbelievably great performance by mitt romney. i not only think the train is on the rails, but this thing is ready to go. we are ready for this debate to the american people. tonight i think it just showed the vision that america has been hungry for. >> what was your favorite exchange? >> i just thought the preparedness of mitt romney -- i have something to say on that. really, how prepared mid was

denied on every single question. and bringing it back, not letting the president live over and over again about ahold rich- poor fair share garbage from the president. not letting him lie on that issue was important. after 90 minutes of going back to the same lies over and over again, it gets pretty old. a thing he is entitled to his plane but he is not entitled to his own -- >> i am is wondering, how well did you think the structure of the debate was?

>> this is the format that the candidates agreed to. i thought jim lehrer did a nice job tonight. i think is what americans are starving for at home, just an honest conversation between our president and our nominee. listen, it was an unbelievably bad performance by the president. i don't know if he left his heart in washington, but he did not bring it here, that is for sure. >> mostly i just feel bad for the moderator. we also hear from steve dodd. obama did not look poised tonight. his body language screamed get me out of here.

>> what was the president not more aggressive? talk to the american people about where we are going and what we are doing. repeatedly he talked specifically about jobs, about the economy. things that matter to the american people. [indiscernible] >> there is only one candidate

out there with the tax plan to reduce the debt. specifics are important for people to hear and that is what they heard in this debate. >> i would not agree with him at all. >> i disagree. [indiscernible] >> i am happy with any debate where people walk away understanding of the views and that is what happened tonight. >> we prepare the way we wanted

to prepare. i think the discussion is going to be helpful to us. medicare tax cuts, the things that are going to be problematic for him and the battleground state. i think governor romney is going to continue to struggle to defend his positions. >> governor romney is doing a speech on monday on foreign policy. the think that what they are opening on that? >> there will be an entire foreign policy debate to have this discussion. will have that discussion in the debate. it is going to be a close race. we have said that from the very first day. we will go on campaigning in the

next debate. he has a clear vision of where he wants to take this country. this audit testing mitt romney continue to try to. -- defend his positions. but steady thing won the debate? >> i think the president won the debate, clearly. the economy, taxes, jobs, medicare. governor romney continues to be on the defense. the president was calm it was friendly, and romney was testy. our job was to lay out a very clear vision about the difference between us and mitt romney. that is what we did tonight. whether you want to give us

stock. for doing that or not, that is not important. you are sitting out there on your couch in charlotte or denver. >> [indiscernible] >> i don't think there is a defense to it. what's what do you think of their schedules for the next couple of days? the philip ohio slipping out of their grasp? >> we feel great about ohio. ohio is always going to be a close battleground state.

i think without ohio for governor romney, he is a very -- he has a very different battle. >> i did want to make a few comments about mr. romney. i am sure he is a wonderful man, but honestly, i feel like every opportunity that he has, all he does is try to be a salesman. always be closing. he may have been very aggressive this evening, but i felt like obama took the time to think about the things he wanted to say. he did not just rattle off a whole bunch of coached information. he thought clearly about what he wanted to say, and i really appreciate that about the president. he is always very serious.

mr. romney comes on the television with a george bush smirk on his face, and that really gets me because i feel like it is more about competition to him, i am going to win, as opposed to a really care about the american people. i feel like obamacare is about the american people and does not take this as a joke. he realizes that people have built, -- people have bills, and not just i want to win because i want to be president. >> i actually felt like romney was very rehearsed looking tonight. it almost looks like he was on the edge, like he had to get his point across, but he never really got his point across. he reminded the of the candidate in the movie "the manchurian candidate" with the candidate

was programmed an almost brainwashed. we did not hearing anything new. he did not tell us how he was going to clear up the economy. he did not lay out anything new. i think he is more interested in getting the job and doing the job. >> did you hear anything new from the president? >> these are things we already knew he was working on. i understand that he wants to put forth war legislation for energy and education and things like that. i also think it doesn't matter who we get in there if the house and senate are not willing to work toward what is best for the country. >> mr. obama looked lost, not leader material. >> i just turned 18 and this is my first election that i will be

voting in. i watched the debate, and it is the first time i ever really paid attention to what both candidates really have to say. >> you have identified yourself for us as a republican. do you plan to vote for mitt romney? >> yes, sir. i think are really just agreed -- haslett, i think it's time to get somebody else into the white house. a lot of things have happened in the last four years that have dug us into a whole. the population of the united states has increased that uses food stamps now. >> did you get anything specific from mr. romney? >> what got me about the entire debate is the fact that i felt

when obama was speaking, i felt romney was more respectful in body language. he was looking at the president, not looking down or away are waiting for his time to run out. i felt like obama was looking away constantly. he was looking down at his notes, writing. i really feel like it should have been a little bit more respectful and paid more attention to mr. romney. it seemed like he did not really even give him the time of day. >> are you doing any campaigning or work for the candidates? >> no, sir. >> is that because of time? >> actually, i am a student, but it is more the fact that i was not really 100% sure who i was

going to vote for until a few days ago. >> this is from twitter. helen from alabama and reaction to the presidential debate. >> there are several statements i would like to make. first of all, they keep saying that romney does not give any specifics. well, for the past four years, i have not seen or heard any release specifics out of obama. i am still not sure what he will do. as far as obamacare, listening to the debate tonight, it really did not sound like obama was

that crazy about obamacare himself, it is just the name of it he is proud of. talking about him if he gets four more years, i don't feel like if he has four more years he will do anything, because he will not have to prove himself to run after four more years. >> if you watch the debate, you know that members of the media out are on hand to take in the debate but talk about it afterward. we will show you some take analysis from the debate tonight. >> governor romney came out and he was aggressive. when you do that, you are in danger of seeming rude or punishes. i don't think he did. he seemed pleasant, aggressive, but not disrespectful.

it seemed to me he displayed extraordinary acknowledge ability for someone who does not hold the office. i don't think president obama had a bad night in the sense that he was way off his game. he is a lot like the president obama we are used to hearing. i don't think he had a spark or the energy or the precision tonight that governor romney had. governor romney had a good night. this was a very strong performance by governor romney. he needed one and i think he got it. >> mitt romney did himself a lot of good tonight. he was there on the issues. he did not back down to the president or the moderator and he did not cross the line. you can do that, and i think that would have backfired on him. i watched obama debate alive in primaries when i was with clinton -- debate a lot in

primaries. this is the guy that showed up. he is a good debater, but doesn't enjoy it. you look through this debate, ann romney looked like he enjoyed it and was having fun. obama just looked sort of sour and it was like another headache that he had to be there. romney support is needed to be reinvigorated. the question is, what did happen with the undecideds. is that enthusiasm going to spread out in terms of who is going to vote. >> was their body language that you noticed? >> i thought both of them behaved with considerable dignity and courtesy to each other, which people like. as meaghan pointed out, the president was continually looking down and sometimes had

an expression on his face that seemed like a smirk. that never helps you. i thought governor romney's body language was pretty good, and the expression on his face this kind of a half smile, not a smirk, as he was looking at the president while he spoke. it was probably better than having him looking down. those observations on body language. >> both of the campaign spending a lot of time in ohio. this is ohio on the democrats' line. >> i watched the debate. i thought the president was very presidential in the way he carried himself. he laid his plans out on the table. he just has not taken enough credit for what he has done. he inherited one big debt, bigger than he thought or

anybody else thought. the brawl the auto industry back. he should have mentioned the debt he inherited, but he does not want to blame bush. romney is on the bush trail. he has not told me anything he is going to do. he is not going to tax the rich, but he is going to lean on the middle class. the president was very presidential. people are saying he did not look like he was concerned, but they don't know what is in his mind also about what is going on in the middle east. >> richard is from washington on

the republican line. go ahead. >> i did watch the presidential debate tonight, and i was sitting here watching it on c- span and i just wanted to call in and give my views. >> what did you think of it? >> i think that romney really laid out his plan. there were several times where obama kept coming back to the media he kept saying no, i am not going to. tech laying out his plan of the people who watched it, they all heard it, too. we do know that he has a plan and we do know that obama came in with a big debt here in america, but we have to look at what has he done since then?

since then, he is responsible for what he has done, the choices he has made, and the choices he has made have got us so much further in the hole that our children and grandchildren are going to pay for it already. west virginia, independent line. >> what did you think of tonight? >> first of all, i wanted to compliment the president. i am an independent, but i wanted to compliment the president and paraphrase his wife. first of all, i have to say, have between anniversary to both of them, but want to paraphrase his wife. for the first time, i am proud in my adult life to actually have watched her husband to

actually not use a teleprompter and sort of pull it off. the other thing, because i am from west virginia, i really do care very much about all the things that harry reid and obama talked about when it comes to oil and coal and the whole 9 yards. i think romney did a really fabulous job and trying to get obama to talk about that, but he did not. >> that you are the independent which both campaigns were centering on the day. have you made a decision? >> yes, definitely. >> who is going to be? >> i watched it live and then i rerun.d a refun i am even more sure now that i was before it went on live at

9:00. backs who are you going to vote for? >> romney is not going to continue to kill our economy. he is not going to continue to kill jobs. he will not continue to throw money at green jobs like solyndra and all that. obama did not answer that question either, did he? >> in about seven minutes or so we will show the debate again. you may have to go to bed by then. we invite you to go to our debate hub. you can see portions of it tailored to each section. a lot of media is looking in analyzing what was said between the two men tonight. here is a labette of the dialogue that took place tonight. -- a little bit of the dialogue that took place tonight. >> it did not mention all the key points of the campaign. there was no bobby kennedy in

the green room before barack obama came out tonight. i don't know what he was doing out there. he was in during the debate rather than fighting it. romney came in with the campaign and a plan. it was going to be aggressive and pushed the moderator our route, which he did effectively. here is my question for obama. i know he likes to say he does not watch cable television, but maybe he should start. listen to the stuff he got away with. the latest thing we got from romney was show people in the emergency room if they are poor. you don't have any care for these people. what are you talking about? we have it on tape, governor, what you think about these

people. don't say you care about old people because you met somebody at a campaign event. you have ignored 47% of the people before you came out tonight. there is a hot debate going on in this country. it is being held here on this network. we have our knives out. we go after the facts. he was like, an hour and a half, i think i can get through this thing. i am coming out an incumbent. you have to be the champ, and i am going to begin tonight. i don't care what this moderator things, because i am going to ignore him. what was from the doing? he was winning. >> mr. romney was not specific

because he wants to leave it up to the states, and rightly so. you can weigh in on facebook, 2500 comments already on our facebook page. before we finish up, a couple of final pulse from both candidates as they were wrapping up an hour and half of debate. we'll hear from both men. >> part of being principled is being able to describe exactly what it is you intend to do, not just saying i will sit down. you have to have a plan. number two, what is important is occasionally you've got to say no to folks, both in your own party and in the other party.

we had some fights between the and the republicans when they fought back against us reining in the excesses' of wall street. absolutely, because that was a pipe that needed to be had. when we were fighting about whether or not we were going to make sure that americans had more security with their health insurance, that was a fight that we need to have. part of leadership and governing is both saying what it is you are for, but also been willing to say no to some things. i have to tell you, governor romney has not displayed that willingness to say no to some of the more extreme parts of his party. >> we have to work are a clever to bases, not because we are going to compromise our principles, but because there is common ground. the challenges america faces right now, the reason i am in this race, there are people who are really hurting today in this country. what is happening in the middle east, there are developments

around the world that are of real concern. republicans and democrats both love america, but we need to have leadership in washington that will actually bring people together and get the job done and could not care less if it is a republican or democrat. i have done it before, i will do it again. >> this is from twitter. about 2500 comments were made on facebook. let me tell you what is going on tomorrow, both of them back on the campaign trail. the president stays in denver for a rally that will take place just after noon eastern standard

time. you can see that on this network. also, mitt romney will be with paul ryan tomorrow in virginia. if you want to see that again, 6:45 on this network as well. about five hours from now, our washington journal takes place. it features your calls and you will see clips from the debate as well. that is that starts at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. not only can he go back and listen to portions of the debate. you can go to our other video library as well. it will give you everything, information, as we give you as

much data as you can before you head out to the polls and vote on alexian day. that is it for this -- election day. that is it. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> lets have a terrific evening for all of you and all of our country. [no audio] >> good evening from the magness arena. i welcome you to the first presidential debate between president barack obama and the republican nominee mitt romney. this debate and the next three are sponsored by the commission

on presidential debates. tonight's 90 minutes will be about domestic issues and will follow a format designed by the commission. there will be six 15-minute segments with two-minute answers for the first question then open discussion for the remainder of the segment. thousands of people offered suggestions on questions via the internet and other means. i made the final selections. they were not submitted for approval to the commission or the candidates. the segments will be three on the economy -- one each on health care, the role of goverment, and governing. there will be an emphasis throughout on differences, specifics, and choices. both will have two-minute closing statements. the audience has promised to remain silent.

no cheers, applause, or other noisy, distracting things so we may concentrate on what the candidates have to say. there is a noise exception right now as we welcome president obama and governor romney. [applause] welcome to you both. let's start with the economy. segment one. let's begin with jobs. what are the major differences between the two of you about how you would go about creating new jobs? you have two minutes each to start. the coin toss has determined that mr. president goes first. >> thank you very much for this opportunity. thank you, governor romney and the university of denver. 20 years ago, i became the luckiest man on earth because

michelle obama agreed to marry me. i want to wish you happy anniversary and let you know that a year from now, we will not be celebrating it in front of 40 million people. four years ago, we went through the worst financial crisis since the great depression. millions of jobs were lost. the auto industry was on the brink of collapse. the financial system froze up. because of the resilience and the determination of the american people, we have begun to fight our way back. we have seen five million jobs

in the private sector created. the auto industry has come back. housing has begun to rise. we have a lot of work to do. the question here is not where we have been but where we are going. governor romney has a perspective that says if we cut taxes, skew toward the wealthy, and roll back regulations, we will be better off. i have a different view. we have to invest in education and training. it is important to develop new sources of oil in america, change our tax code to help small businesses and companies

investing in the united states, that we take some of the money that we are saving rebuild america. it will be up to the voters what path we should take. will we double down on the top- down economic policies that helped get us into this mess or embrace a new economic patriotism that says america does best when the middle class does best?

i look forward to having that debate. >> it is in honor to be here with you. i appreciate the chance to be with the president. congratulations to you, mr. president, on your anniversary. i am sure this is the most romantic place you could imagine, here with me. congratulations. this is a tender topic. i have met people across the country. i was in dayton, ohio, and a woman said, "i have been out of work since may. can you help me?" yesterday was a rally in denver. a woman with a baby said, "my husband has had four jobs in three years -- part-time jobs. he lost his recent job." we lost our home. can you help us?" yes, we can. it will take a different path, not the one we have been on. not the one the president describes as a top-down tax cut for the rich. my plan has five parts -- get us not american energy independent to create 4 million jobs. open up trade in latin america. crackdown on china if they cheat. make sure people have the skills to succeed in the best schools in the world. get us to a balanced budget, champion small business. it is small business that creates jobs in america. over the last four years, small- business people decided america

may not be the place to open a new business because new business start-ups are down to a 30-year low. i know what it takes to hire people. i am concerned that the path we are on is unsuccessful. the president has a view very similar to what he had four years ago that a bigger government spending more, taxing more. trickle-down government would work. that is not the right answer for america. i will restore the vitality that gets america working again. >> please respond directly to

the trickle-down approach. >> let me talk about what i think we need to do. we have to improve our education system. we have made enormous progress drawing on ideas from democrats and republicans. they are starting to show gains in some of the toughest-to-deal- with schools. we have a program called race to the top that has prompted reforms in 46 states, raising standards, improving how we train teachers. i want to hire another 100,000 new math and science teachers and create 2 million more slots in our community colleges so people can get trained for the jobs that are out there. i want to make sure we keep tuition low for our young people. when it comes to our tax code, we agree that our corporate tax rate is too high. i want to lower its for manufacturing. i want to close loopholes that are giving incentives for companies shipping jobs overseas. i want to give tax breaks for companies investing in the united states on energy. we agree we have to boost

american energy production, and oil and natural gas production have been higher than they have been in years. we have to look at the energy source of the future like wind, solar, and biofuels and make those investments. all of this is possible. we have to close our deficit. we will discuss how we deal with our tax code and how we make sure we are reducing spending in a response away and have enough revenue to make those investments. governor romney's central economic plan calls for a $5 trillion tax cut on top of the extension of the bush tax cut. $2 trillion in additional

military spending -- without dumping the cost on the middle-class americans. that is one of the central questions of this campaign. >> you have spoken about a lot of different things. governor romney, do you have a question you would like to ask directly about something he just said? >> i do not have a tax-cut scale you're talking about. we have to provide tax relief to people in the middle class. i will not reduce the share of taxes paid by high income people. they are doing fine in the economy. the people who are having a hard time are middle-income americans. under the president's policies, they have been buried. middle income americans have seen their income decreased by $4,300. this is a tax in itself -- the

economy tax. gasoline prices have doubled under the president, electric rates are up, food prices are up, health-care costs have gone up by $2,500 per family. the question is how to get them going again. it is energy and trade. the right kind of training programs. the president mentioned those ideas. education. it is key. it is the future of our economy. we have 47 training programs. they are reporting to eight agencies. we have to get those dollars back to the states and to the workers so they can create pathways into training they need for jobs that will help them. taxation. we should bring the tax rates down. for corporations and

individuals. for us not to lose revenue, i lowered deductions and credits and intentions so we keep taking in the same money when you account for growth. energy is critical. the president pointed out that production of oil and gas in the u.s. is up but not due to his policies -- in spite of his policies. all of the increase in natural gas and oil has happened on private land, not on government land. your administration has cut the number of permits and licenses in half. if i am president, i will double them. i will get the oil from offshore and alaska. i like coal. people in the coal industry feel like it is getting crushed by your policies. i want to get america and north american energy independence so we can create jobs. i am not looking to cut massive taxes and reduce the revenues going into the government. my number one principle is that there will be no tax cut that adds to the deficit. no tax cut that adds to the deficit. i want to reduce the burden

being paid by middle-income americans. i cannot reduce the burden paid by high-income americans. any language of the contrary is not accurate. >> let's talk about taxes. it is instructive. four years ago when i stood on the stage, i said that i would cut taxes for middle-class families. that is what i did. we cut taxes for middle-class families by about $3,600. we do best when the middle class is doing well. by giving them those tax cuts, they have a little more money in their pockets so they can buy a new car.

they are in a better position to weather the recession we went through. they can buy a computer for their kid who goes to college, which means they spend more money. businesses make more profits and hire more. governor romney's proposal that he has promoted for 18 months calls for a $5 trillion cut. he is saying he will pay for it by closing loopholes and deductions. he has been asked how he would close those loopholes and deductions. he has not been able to identify them. when you add up all the loopholes and deductions that upper-income individuals are taking advantage of, take those all away. you do not come close to paying for $5 trillion. that is why independent studies looking at this said the only way to meet governor romney's pledge of not reducing the deficit or not adding to the deficit is by burdening middle- class families. they would pay about $2,000

more. that is not my analysis. that is the analysis of the economists. that kind of top down economics where people at the top are doing well while middle-class families are burdened further, that is not what i believe is a recipe for economic growth. >> what is the difference? let's stay on taxes for a moment. >> everything he said about my tax plan is inaccurate. if the tax plan he described were a tax plan i were going to support, i would say no. i will not put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit. that is part one. no economist can say mitt romney's tax plan adds $5

trillion. i will not reduce the share paid by high-income individuals. you keep saying that. it is not the case. i have five boys. i am used to people saying something that is not always true, repeating it, and hoping i will believe it. that is not the case. i will not reduce the taxes paid by high-income americans. i will not raise taxes on middle-income families. i will lower taxes for middle- income families. there are studies that looked at the studies you describe and say it is wrong. a study said you will raise taxes by $3,000 or $4,000. i want to bring down rates,

lower deductions and exemptions, and so forth so we keep getting the revenue we need. small-business pays that individual rate. 54% of america's workers work in businesses that are taxed at the individual tax rate. if we lower at rate, they will be able to hire more people. this is about jobs. >> do you challenge what the governor said about his plan? >> for 18 months he has been running on this tax plan. now, he is saying that his idea is never mind. if you are lowering the rates the way you described, it is not possible to come up with enough deductions that only affect high-income individuals to avoid raising the deficit or burdening the middle class. it is math. it is arithmetic. governor romney and i do share a deep interest in encouraging small-business growth. while my tax plan has been

lowering taxes for 98% of families, i lowered taxes for small businesses 18 times. i want to continue the tax rates we put into place for small businesses and families. for incomes over $250,000 per year, we should go back to the rate we had when bill clinton was president when we created 23 million new jobs. we created a lot of millionaires. by doing that we can not only reduce the deficit, we can not only encourage job growth through small businesses, but we can make the necessary investments in education and energy.

we have a difference when it comes to definitions of small business. under my plan, 97% of small businesses will not see their income taxes go up. governor romney says those top 3% would be burdened. under governor romney's definition, there are millionaires and businesses who are small businesses. donald trump is a small business. he does not like to think of himself as small anything. that is how you define small- business. that kind of approach will not grow our economy because the only way to pay for it without burdening the middle class or blowing up our deficit is to make drastic cuts in things like education, making sure that we are investing in basic

science and research. everything that is helping america grow. that would be a mistake. >> just for the record -- we are over our first 15 minutes. we are still on the economy. we will come back to taxes. we will move on to the deficit. >> mr. president, you are right. 97% of the businesses are not taxed at the 35% business rate. those businesses in the last 3% employ half of the people who work in small business. they have employed one quarter of all the workers of america. you plan to take their rate from 35% to 40%. i talked to a guy with four employees. he said he and his son

calculated how much they pay in taxes. it added up to well over 50% of what they earned. your plan is to take the tax rate of successful small businesses from 35% to 40%. the national federation of independent businesses says that will cost 700,000 jobs. i do not want to cost jobs. my priority is jobs. i bring down the tax rates, lower deductions and exemptions, the same ideas of bowles-simpson to create more jobs. there is nothing better toward getting us to the balanced budget than having more people working, paying more taxes. that is the most efficient way to get this budget balanced. >> you may want to move on to another topic.

if you believe we can cut taxes by $5 trillion, and add $2 trillion in additional spending, that the military is not asking for, $7 trillion -- over 10 years -- that is more than our entire defense budget. you think that by closing loopholes and deductions for the well-to-do, you will not end up picking up the tab. governor romney's plan may work for you. math, common sense, and our history shows us that is not a recipe for job growth. we have tried both approaches. the approach that governor romney is talking about is the same sales pitch that was made in 2001 and 2003. we ended up with the slowest job growth and 50 years. we ended up living from surplus to deficits. it culminated in the worst financial crisis since the great depression.

bill clinton tried the approach i am talking about. we created 23 million new jobs, but from deficit to surplus, and businesses did well. in some ways we have some data on which approach is more likely to create jobs and opportunity for americans. i believe that the economy works best when middle-class families are getting tax breaks and those of us who have done well because of this magnificent country we live in that we can afford to do more to make sure we are not blowing up the deficit. >> he gets the first word of that segment. let me make this comment. let me repeat what i said. i am not in favor of a $5 trillion tax cut. my plan is not to put in place

any tax cut that will add to the deficit. that is not my plan. let's look at history. my plan is not like anything that has been tried before. my plan is to bring down rates and credit so the revenue stays in but we bring down rates to get more people working. my priority is putting people back to work in america. they are suffering. look at the evidence of the last four years. it is extraordinary. we have 23 million people out of work or have stopped looking for work. when the president took office, 47 million were on food stamps. economic growth is slower than last year and last year's lower than the year before. going forward with the status quo will not cut it for the american people who are struggling. >> we are still on the economy. this is the second segment on the economy, specifically on what to do with the federal deficit. you each have two minutes. governor romney, you go first because the president went first on segment one. what are the differences between the two of you as to how you would go about tackling the deficit problem in this country?

>> it is a critical issue. it is not as an economic issue. it is a moral issue. it is not moral from my generation to keep spending more than we take in knowing those burdens will be passed on to the next generation and they will pay the interest and principal for the rest of their lives. the amount of debt we are adding is not moral. how do we deal with it? there are three ways that you can cut a deficit. one is to raise taxes. another is to cut spending. number three is to grow the economy. if more people work, they are paying taxes. the president would prefer raising taxes. the problem is that it slows down the rate of growth. you can never quite get the job done. i want to lower spending and

encourage economic growth. i will eliminate all programs by this test if they do not pass it. is the program so critical is it is worth borrowing china to pay for it? obamacare is on my list. i use the term with all respect. i will get rid of that. i will stop the subsidy to pbs. i like pbs. i like big bird. i cannot keep spending money to borrow from china to pay for it. i will take programs that are good programs but will be run more officially at the state level. i'll make government more efficient and cut back the number of employees and combine some agencies. my cutbacks will be done through attrition. the president said he would cut the deficit in half.

he doubled it. trillion-dollar deficits for the last four years. the president has put in place almost as much debt held by the public as all prior presidents combined. >> when i walked into the oval office i had more than a trillion dollar deficit greeting me. we know where it came from. two wars paid for on a credit card, two cuts that are not pay for, programs that were not paid for, a massive economic crisis. despite that, yes, we had to take some emergency measures to make sure we did not slip into a great depression. let's make sure we are cutting out things that are not helping us grow. 77 government programs from aircrafts that the air force

ordered but were not working well. 18 government programs for education that were well- intentioned. they're not helping kids learn. we went after medical fraud in medicare and medicaid very aggressively. it saved tens of billions of dollars. i worked with democrats and republicans to cut a trillion dollars out of our discretionary domestic budget, the largest cut in the discretionary domestic budget since dwight eisenhower. we have to do more. i put forward a $4 trillion reduction plan on a website. you can look at the numbers. what cuts we make and what revenue we raise. $2.50 for every cut we ask for a dollar of additional revenue, paid for by asking those of us who have done well in this country to contribute more to reduce the deficit. romney mentioned the bowles- simpson commission. that is how the bipartisan